Phunya Sele Sele have vowed to take the bull by its horn in the battle against the suspension of the Brazilians defender
Bloemfontein Celtic CEO Khumbulani Konco has confirmed the club did lodge a ‘protest’ over the ineligibility of Mamelodi Sundowns wing-back Tebogo Langerman to take part in the Nedbank Cup final.
Langerman was included in the Sundowns team sheet for the final this past weekend despite accumulating five yellow cards which automatically meant he was suspended for the encounter at Orlando Stadium.
According to Konco, Celtic only realised when Langerman was about to come on that he was actually not supposed to be in the team sheet.
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Konco said they lodged a complaint immediately and that documents were signed by both the match referee and match commissioner.
“We did lodge a protest during the game and the protest was signed by the referee and match commissioner. The basis is the fact that Langerman had 4 yellow cards [in fact five] but was on the team sheet. We only realised this when he was about to come on,” Konco told SA FM.
Without really going into details, Konco revealed the club is hoping for ‘the obvious outcome’, insisting that whether the ‘protest’ was lodged prior or during the game is what will be discussed internally, and he’s leaving everything in the hands of the PSL Disciplinary Committee.
According to the PSL rulebook, a protest should be lodged at least 30 minutes before kick-off, and anything signed afterwards or even after the game is considered a complaint, as former PSL general manager Ace Ncobo said on Sunday.
“We are hoping for the obvious outcome here… whether we had seen the error prior to the game or not, that part is an internal matter and it will form the basis of our protest. I don’t want to say it was an oversight from our side, lets deal with this after the case.”
“For clarity, the club does have a team manager but let’s leave everything in the hands of the DC and they will deal with this issue. We have also seen the outcomes of previous similar cases, but there is no use in us deliberating the matter. The DC will handle it,” he said.
Had Celtic lodged the protest 30 minutes before the match, then chances are that Sundowns would have forfeited the match and been slapped with a fine.
But as things stand, the Brazilians could escape with a monetary fine set to be around R100 000.
Nonetheless, Konco is positive the DC will rule in their favour and if not, the club is willing to ‘take the fight all the way’.
“There are similar cases before that were won and there were others that were against, but this is for the DC to deal with. As Celtic, we remain positive of the obvious outcome. We are also willing to take this fight all the way,” he said.
